The song definitely has a very cheerful and summery feel, and I really love it when it comes on on my playlist, but message for kidz does feature a strange if funny ‘chicken’ rap (as coined by Sesshy) in the middle, which adds that extra bit of playfulness. I’m still in two minds about it though!

We have to thank Sowon for kindly providing the romanised lyrics on the BOO forums, and allowing us to post it on the site! The lyrics for the bridge part of message for kidz, like fifty/50, was not available with the single, and was completely transcribed by Sowon!

As always, if you spot any mistakes, please let me know either by commenting below or via the contact form. If you would like to post these lyrics elsewhere, please link back to this page. :)

JAPANESE (Romaji)

[Verse 1]
You better return to hajimaru
Ikeba tashikani You can remember your dream
Ima ni naccha tooge kake no seji
A-You gotta grab your ippai ni
Don’t use the atama no monosashi
gaki no koro HERO mezashi chanpara
Ima wa RAP de mezasu saki NO.1
Dekiru nante hoshou mo nai mama Around the world
Kanousei wa zero ja nai kara!

[Chorus]
Never forget our shining message yeah
When you lost on your way
Take you to the shining place
Everything’s gonna be all right
It’s the shining message yeah
When you lost on your way
Take you to the shining place
Everything’s gonna be all right
song for kidz!

[Verse 2]
Hajimari wa itsumo fuan to tonari awase
Shigarami no naka Vision dake hirogete
Sou yume no naka e …
Ekaku egaku eizou to Passion
Nani yori ippo fumidasu Action
Tobidashitara igai to Reaction wa rakushou
Sassou to mado ake nuke dasou

* Repeat [Chorus]

[Bridge]
Yo! Touch the sky te wo nobashite
We Gonna break the sound system!

Yo! Touch the sky te wo nobashite
We Gonna break the sound system!

Yo Touch the sky te wo nobashite
We Gonna break the sound system!

[Verse 3]
Mazasu basho e ikeru wa fu tashika da ga
Nanda ka ikeru you na ki ga shite kitan nara
Mazu wa Move On!
Me wo tojitta ii !
Ishi wo mae e
Itsuka yume mita ano sora no mukou
Chiisana karada ni ookina kagayaki…
Idaite So
Omoi dashite mi! kimi no Shining road

* Repeat [Chorus]

Lots of websites are started up every day, and just a little over a year ago, BOO was started and joined very shortly by BOO Forums. With the upcoming release of Back-on‘s new song, Sands of Time, it seemed like a great opportunity for us to celebrate our very first birthday and also their new work at the same time!

After some discussion, we’ve opted for April 6th 2008 as our official birthday, and we’ve already started planning a number of things to mark the occasion! As BOO+Forums is fundamentally a fan community built for Back-on fans by fans, one of the major areas that we are focusing on is the:

Fanwork donation request!

This is where we would humbly like to ask everyone for their contribution! And what we are looking for, as ookami, one of our forum moderators (who came up with the idea) so excellently put it: (everyone’s) own little tidbits of Back-on goodness!

So, it can be art, writing, sketches, music, singing, covers, wallpapers, videos, literally just anything that you’ve made as a fan of Back-on. Please don’t hesitate to submit your work, as they will be appreciated, since you have spent time on it!

In addition to this, we are also going to do a:

Banner Rotation

To celebrate this event, and for the forseeable future, we will be randomly rotating the forum banner (the large image at the top!) using member-contributed work! The idea is with thanks to Sesshy, and I really hope everyone will be kind enough to submit their work!

The current banner featuring flower and Butterfly was kindly created for us by Sound-Ex/Nao, which I think is a fantastic example! Simple yet so very effective. So long as the banner is less than 850px in width and has a suitable height (minimum 150px) then please send them in! The minimum criteria (of course) is that it should say the forum name somewhere.

Another thing that we will be doing includes:

The New BACK-ON Dictionary in WIKI format

Originally a concept started by ichiban (forum moderator) as a forum thread where users contributed their definitions and collaborated to form the content. We’ve decided it’s time to make it ‘official’ and neat and tidy by making it like a WIKI! This will form part of the main site and will be editable only by forum members. The original forum thread will still remain though!

And as with every website, the time comes for a new fresh look, so we will be introducing:

New website and forum theme

This is still very much in the works, and we will/are working with some members to ensure this goes well and on-time! At the moment the new forum theme has already been approved by Sowon (co-admin of the BOO Forums) but the site theme is progressing a bit more slowly, so on that note, we would be very grateful if you could let us know what you would personally like to see on Back-on Online! This can be done by commenting at the end of this post, or by getting in touch via the Contact Form.

We also have other ideas in the works that are coming along, but our focus is primarily on donated fanworks, so if you do have something that you’ve done with Back-on’s music, pictures – literally anything – please do let us know! Any work can be submitted to us by emailing:

submissions(AT)backon-online.com

This is a big event for us, and we very much hope you can join us in celebrating our first birthday! :) Thanks!

The aim for us this year? For BOO to become better! :) We definitely have something to look forward to, as BOO will be celebrating its very first birthday very soon! It would be an understatement to say that it has been a brilliant time, where the definite highlight was the opening of the BOO Forums by Sowon in April 2007!

I’ve met some seriously amazing Back-on fans through there, and if you do have some time, I would really encourage you to pay a visit and have a look around! A big thanks must go to the members for their great support, and if you did have any questions about the band (and band members) this is the place to ask as there are lots of experts! :)

Because the new year is a time of reflection:

Finally, a big thank you to everyone who has supported the site in some way or another, whether as a fantastic fellow admin (Sowon) or by providing site content (MJtheOne for the wallpapers, funbari for the lyrics, and guitar chords by Avalonstar12) including the images found in the Gallery (particularly ichiban) and also the special Back-on videos provided by gangangan03, blueblueblue and SoundEX amongst others. Of course the thank you must extend to the many people (who I’m sorry to have not mentioned here) who have made the site so much richer by posting comments and writing about their experiences both on the Forums and the main site. THANK YOU!

And before I forget: THANK YOU, BACK-ON, FOR BEING SO EXTRAORDINARY!

Happy new year everyone!

p/s: And for some really yummy news, rumour has it that Back-on will be releasing a brand new single on January 30th 2008. We don’t have much detail to go by at the moment, but will definitely keep you posted! If you would like to follow the latest developments, feel free to read the forum thread about the new release created by slipknot240.

The amazing thing is that these were all done in a matter of days, as you’ll be able to tell by reading this Guitar Tabs forum thread started by jakeraptor1991 (feel free to join in the discussion by the way!) and you can find them all on Ultimate-Guitar.com!

As usual, you can view the screenshot above to get ‘taster’ of what to expect! :D A big thanks must go to Avalonstar12 for sharing her work with everyone!

p/s: You can also view some of her fanart in the Gallery section!

The featured song for Round 2 will be Chain, the OP from the anime Air Gear and everyone is invited to participate!

So how will it all work?

We want to hear your rendition of Chain, so feel free to sing over the song in the background or even ‘a cappella’ style without the accompanying music! :) The rules are very loose here, so please don’t be bogged down by restrictions.

In terms of recording your voice, it’s quite easy to buy a microphone that plugs into your computer and works straightaway. If that option isn’t available, there’s always the web-cam or even your mobile phone! (info and demonstration courtesy of Sowon!)

The competition will run for a month, and submissions will need to be made by August 9th on the Forums. Voting will then start from August 10th for one week until August 17th. You are welcome to make an audio or even a video file for your submission! For an example, check out TsUbAmE‘s rendition of ‘a day dreaming…‘ on Youtube!

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For those who want to start from scratch: the Chain (TV size) mp3 audio file can be found at Japtard.com (thanks Frox!), and you can find the lyrics for Chain (kanji, hiragana and romaji versions) on Back-on Online by clicking here.

Minna Gambatte! So far we are expecting entries from the great Sowon-nii himself, TsUbAmE, Souryoku, and also myself. So hope you will all participate too by sending in your submission and voting!

This is actually sort of in-conjunction with Sowon‘s Back-on Music Competition on the Forums, where each time, participants have to sing one particular song (TV size version) from Back-on‘s repetoire. (Please consider entering the competition, minna! :D) Usually, it does help to ‘record’ with the song in question playing in the background, which brings me to the main topic:

where can I find TV size mp3s of Back-on‘s songs?

It would probably be helpful to first provide a list of the songs, so without further ado in the order of Anime Title | Type | Song Title :

Aside from Chain, most of the mp3s are available for download somewhere on Back-on Online, and since this is a summary post, you can find the direct-links to the posts in question below:

• ヒカリサスホウ Hikari Sasuhou (FK Metal ver.)
• BLAZE LINE
• a day dreaming…

But where can you find Chain? This only happens to be one of the most popular Back-on songs ever. The answer is simple: visit Japtard.com. Or more specifically,

view the post Air Gear OST – What a Groovy Trick!

You can the entire OST available for download (at 320kbps) – either as a zip file, or individual mp3 files. Chain (TV Size) is the first song on the 34-track album. The download has kindly been provided by Frox, who has credited Nipponsei for the original release.

Hopefully this post will be helpful to those searching for ‘that’ opening/ending theme by Back-on. Almost every single one so far also has their corresponding lyrics posted on the site somewhere, so take a look at the Lyrics section if you’re interested, particularly if you’d like to participate in the competition!

If you’re wondering why this is so significant, this is Back-on wrote/performed the OP, which is a variation of their own release ﾋｶﾘｻｽﾎｳ (Hikari Sasuhou). The released track is undeniably one of Back-on‘s most popular songs, and the new variation is known as

ﾋｶﾘｻｽﾎｳ Hikari Sasuhou (fk Metal ver.)

The OST (AVCA26256) is set to retail at ¥3059, and will feature 43 tracks, most of which will be the anime’s BGM. Unfortunately (as with most anime OSTs) the CD will only feature the TV size versions of both the OP and the ED.

The ED, Naked Flower, is sung by Romi Paku (who voices Alita Forland, the main character) and the full version is already available on CD.

Alas to-date, Back-on have yet to release a full version of ﾋｶﾘｻｽﾎｳ Hikari Sasuhou (fk Metal ver.), which has slightly different lyrics to their album version. The closest release that we’ve been able to find was actually from a compilation album Survive, and you can find out more information about it in the First Glance: ‘Survive’ compilation post. We’ve decided to christen it as the

ﾋｶﾘｻｽﾎｳ Hikari Sasuhou (Survive ver.)

which BOO provided for visitors to download last week. In case you want to listen to the fk Metal ver. before June 27th 2007, you can download a video-rip of the song courtesy of Yakhobian, which you can find here.

We will be providing an OST mp3 of the of ﾋｶﾘｻｽﾎｳ Hikari Sasuhou (fk Metal ver.) in a few days courtesy of Nipponsei, so please watch this space! :)

p/s: Murder Princess OAV Volume 4 is also released on DVD on the same day!

Of course, the video is included in this post as well, and it seems that this is a special version of the PV with extra ending credits! The info comes courtesy of Koutarou, and you can find out a little more below the video.

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It seems almost every single member of Back-on got quite tanned during their stay in Houston, America, as they have t-shirt tan marks on their arms! I also think it’s very sweet of Back-on to go the extra mile and give their thanks to e.g. JohnP, Nao (SoundEX) and Fabio amongst others by recording their messages.

We also get to find out the identity of the lucky man arm wrestling with Icchan in the PV! He is known as Nick and you can visit his Myspace profile by clicking on his name!

p/s: Two versions have been uploaded, the first one has a lower pitch than the other, and I think the latter is closer to the original so I’ve included the new version above.

All the media can be found on the Forums, including more PV screenshots that you can see above (again provided by Sowon!) The direct link to the thread is:

http://www.backon-online.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=165

The video is unlike any of Back-on‘s previous PVs (the list currently includes Chain, New World, Kodou, and Nuts Tribe) and features scenic views of (presumably) Houston (it was filmed before their performance at Anime Matsuri) with some great closeups of all the band members, particuarly Teeda and Kenji03, although Icchan does win his arm wrestling match against a local(?) on the hood of their white truck! (Lucky guy! He gets to feature in Back-on‘s PV!)

What do you think about the PV? :D

In what I believe to be Back-on‘s first English interview article entitled USA turns it BACK-ON, Cynthia of JaME (JMusicEuropa) asks the band a selection of interesting and investigative questions that really do open my eyes to how the band thinks, as well as reveal some intriguing facts about the band, such as the tidbit that their favourite performance song is Chain. Some of my favourite Q&As are included below:

Q: Who are the main lyricist and songwriter of the band? How are the two developed?

A: TEEDA: We basically all work together. SHU, GORI, and ICCHAN come up with the music; they’re the first building blocks. Then KENJI03 and I come up with our own lyrics that we sing. After the lyrics are added, all of us come together as a band and listen to what we’ve come up with to make suggestions and changes.

Shu adds later on in the interview that for shows such as Tokyo Mayokara and Eyeshield 21:

SHU: We usually try to create the music based on the visual image that we see, so the viewer can connect both the song and show. We try to interlink the music with the show, so that way the listener can visualize what he or she saw in the show by remembering an episode or scene. Since the visual was already created for the audience, what we’re trying to do as artists is create the sound side.

And this is how Teeda learnt his English:

Q: TEEDA, you speak a lot of English slang and also have slang written in your lyrics; where did you learn this?

A: TEEDA: When I was in high school, my father knew an American family that lived in the neighborhood. I was able to visit them often and stayed over from time to time, so I learned English from my father’s friends’ children. When I put slang into the lyrics I ask my friend, Matthew, if they sound alright. He’s not related to those friends I had from my childhood days.

One of the main reasons I love this article is because we also get to find out what inspires Gori and Shu, since it’s quite difficult to find anything other than factual information about them. Alas, Icchan doesn’t say much during the interview (according to Gori, he’s shy :D awww…) but we do get to find out how he joined Back-on (in October 2006):

ICCHAN: I was introduced to the band from mutual friends of the original BACK-ON members of other local and active indie bands.

USA turns it BACK-ON also solves the puzzle behind Kenji03‘s name, an FAQ of quite a few Back-on fans (you know who you are ^^):

KENJI03: Everyone has their unique name, but Kenji is very typical, so I wanted to add a little tweak to the name. And since BACK-ON is from Tokyo and Tokyo’s area code is 03, I added 03 to my name.
TEEDA: KENJI-TOKYO. (everyone laughs.)
KENJI03: It could also be read as KENJIO-SAN. (again everyone laughs.)

There is plenty to read that hasn’t been included here, so do read the article! The actual interview was conducted on the last day of Anime Matsuri in a room with comfy-looking sofas! I know this, and you will too, because Cynthia has kindly included photos of the band taken during the interview.

Which reminds me, on another (mostly unrelated) note, JaME have also published a brand new picture for Back-on‘s profile, which you can see below, courtesy of JaME.

Every single band member has a brand new hair style, with Teeda sporting the biggest change from his previously braided locks! Icchan has a rather devilish look (imho! I’m willing to be corrected here :D) which I do like (although by all accounts, he’s really a sweetie! Just ask Koutarou!), although my favourite in this picture has to be Gori (who has the cutest smile in their recent interview with Soundex).

So, a big thanks to Cynthia and JaME (JMusicEuropa) for interviewing Back-on and publishing such a great article! Please do show them your support by commenting directly on their Back-on Interview Comments Thread, you’ll have to register, but I think it’s worth it!

p/s: A big thanks must be given to xiijelly as well! :)